133-607: The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee ; its exhibits trace the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel , which was the site of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with
266-459: A "Sufficiency" level global city as of 2020. Memphis is a center for media and entertainment, notably a historic music scene . With blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound, the city has been nicknamed the "Home of the Blues". Its music has continued to be shaped by a multicultural mix of influences: country , rock and roll , soul , and hip-hop . The city
399-611: A "blueprint" for future incidents of police brutality nationwide. The incident also resulted in the disbanding of the city's "SCORPION" unit, which had been mandated with directly combating the most violent crimes in the city. All the officers charged with involvement in Nichols's death were members of the unit. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km ), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km )
532-667: A bus representative of the Montgomery bus boycott . The site first opened as the 16-room Windsor Hotel in 1924, and was later known as the Marquette Hotel. In 1945, Walter Bailey purchased it and renamed it for his wife Loree and the song " Sweet Lorraine ". During the segregation era, Bailey operated the hotel as upscale lodging that catered to a black clientele. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned segregated businesses, Bailey believed he needed to improve
665-537: A crucial role in supporting the Memphis sanitation workers during their 1968 strike. The union helped the workers organize their demands for fair wages, safer working conditions, and respect. They also brought national attention to the strike by connecting it to larger civil rights and labor issues. Beyond advocacy, AFSCME provided practical support, including legal aid for workers arrested during protests and financial assistance for their families, ensuring they could endure
798-614: A few days later, halting the foreclosure auction, and the news of the foreclosure provoked local business leaders to try to save the motel. The Martin Luther King Memphis Memorial Foundation, a newly-established non-profit organization, agreed to purchase the motel from Bailey for $ 240,000, which it would need to raise from donors to finalize the sale. Later that year, the motel was added to the National Register of Historic Places , as part of
931-486: A mistake [...] If King were alive he wouldn't want this." Before the eviction, Smith had told reporters, "If I can't live at The Lorraine, I'll camp out on the sidewalk out front." After she was removed from the building and her belongings were dumped on the curb outside, she covered the items with a tarp and pitched a tent next to them. Smith has lived outside the museum ever since, in a round-the-clock vigil that has lasted for more than 35 years. Her presence caused delays in
1064-426: A number of vehicles of historic value or which are otherwise relevant to the time period. Vehicles on display include an International Harvester garbage truck in an exhibit on the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike that brought King to Memphis, James Earl Ray's 1966 white Ford Mustang, a 1968 Cadillac and 1959 Dodge parked outside the motel, a re-creation of the burned shell of a Greyhound bus used by Freedom Riders , and
1197-518: A small Social Security check monthly. In October 2017, Baxter Leach represented the sanitation strikers at the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Awards. Leach was one of the original sanitation workers who participated in the Memphis sanitation strike and served as the public face of the surviving sanitation workers. In 2018, Leach along with the other surviving sanitation strikers was presented with
1330-600: A written contract. Mayor Loeb continued to refuse union recognition and dues withdrawn from wages because he argued that AFSCME officials only wanted to fill their pockets with the hard-earned money of local Memphians. Loeb believed that he was the sanitation workers' keeper and he would not abandon his "moral obligation" to protect them from union officials. Local Black leaders and sanitation workers saw this "rhetoric smacked of paternalism reminiscent of slavery ." The sanitation workers were men and were more than capable of making their own decisions. By February 21,
1463-619: A yellow fever outbreak, 20,000 residents fled the city. The ensuing panic left the poverty-stricken, the working classes, and the African-American community at the most risk from the epidemic. Those who remained relied on volunteers from religious and physician organizations to tend to the sick. By the end of the year, more than 5,000 were confirmed dead in Memphis. The New Orleans health board listed "not less than 4,600" dead. The Mississippi Valley recorded 120,000 cases of yellow fever, with 20,000 deaths. The $ 15 million in losses caused by
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#17327724008221596-607: Is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee . It is the county seat of Shelby County , in the southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River . With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census , Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville . Memphis is the fifth-most populous city in the Southeast , the nation's 28th-most populous overall, as well as
1729-521: Is a national transportation hub and Mississippi River crossing for Interstate 40 , (east-west), Interstate 55 (north-south), barge traffic, Memphis International Airport ( FedEx's "SuperHub" facility ) and numerous freight railroads that serve the city. Memphis sanitation strike Sanitation workers Southern Christian Leadership Conference Mayor of Memphis City of Memphis City of Nashville Other localities The Memphis sanitation strike began on February 12, 1968, in response to
1862-685: Is home to a major professional sports team , the Grizzlies of the NBA . Other attractions include Graceland , the Memphis Pyramid , Sun Studio , the Blues Hall of Fame and Stax Museum of American Soul Music . Memphis-style barbecue has achieved international prominence, and the city hosts the annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest , which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year. Higher-level educational institutions include
1995-455: Is in heaven. Give us this day our Dues Checkoff, And forgive us our boycott, As we forgive those who spray MACE against us. And lead us not into shame, But deliver us from LOEB! For OURS is justice, jobs, and dignity, Forever and ever. Amen. FREEDOM! — "Sanitation Workers' Prayer" recited by Reverend Malcolm Blackburn National civil rights leaders including Roy Wilkins , Bayard Rustin , and James Lawson came to Memphis to rally
2128-500: Is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km ), or 2.76%, is water. Downtown Memphis rises from a bluff along the Mississippi River . The city and metro area spread out through suburbanization, and encompass southwest Tennessee, northern Mississippi , and eastern Arkansas . Several large parks were founded in the city in the early 20th century, notably Overton Park in Midtown and the 4,500-acre (18 km ) Shelby Farms . The city
2261-825: Is owned by the State of Tennessee and operated by the Foundation under a 20-year lease with the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. The main museum is located on the south edge of downtown Memphis , in what is now called the South Main Arts District . It is about six blocks east of the Mississippi River . The main 4.14-acre (16,800 m) site includes the museum, the Lorraine Motel, and associated buildings. The museum also owns
2394-649: The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan . In the 2014 reopening, a major new exhibit featured is a replica of the U.S. Supreme Court room where oral argument was heard in 1954 in the seminal Brown v. Board of Education , in which the Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This was a major victory for the civil rights movement. The museum has several interactive kiosks where patrons can access audio, images, text and video about
2527-681: The Ku Klux Klan , that acted violently toward the Black population and maintained Jim Crow . Black people were excluded from unions and paid much less than Whites—conditions which persisted and sometimes worsened in the first half of the 20th century. During the New Deal , Black people were able to organize as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations , a group which Crump called communist "nigger unionism." However, organized Black labor
2660-565: The South Main Street Historic District . The foundation held a series of fundraising events to purchase the motel property, including an exhibition basketball game at the Mid-South Coliseum that featured Magic Johnson , Isiah Thomas , George Gervin , and Marques Johnson . However, these efforts raised only $ 96,568 of the needed $ 240,000 in time for the set deadline of October 28, 1982, leading
2793-535: The Southern United States , Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods . The first European explorer to visit the area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541. The high Chickasaw Bluffs protecting the location from the waters of the Mississippi was contested by European settlers as Memphis developed. By 1819, when modern Memphis
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#17327724008222926-476: The United States . The city of Memphis was founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory, on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), by John Overton , James Winchester and Andrew Jackson . They named it after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River . From the city's foundation onwards, African Americans formed large proportion of Memphis' population. Prior to
3059-605: The University of Memphis , Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College . Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years. In the first millennium A.D. people of the Mississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout
3192-453: The 1880s Memphis led the nation in sanitary reform and improvements. Perhaps the most significant effect of yellow fever on Memphis was in demographic changes. Nearly all of Memphis's upper and middle classes vanished, depriving the city of its general leadership and class structure that dictated everyday life, similar to that in other large Southern cities, such as New Orleans , Charleston, South Carolina , and Atlanta, Georgia . In Memphis,
3325-585: The 1960s, the city was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement , as its large African-American population had been affected by state segregation practices and disenfranchisement in the early 20th century. African-American residents drew from the civil rights movement to improve their lives. In 1968, the Memphis sanitation strike began for living wages and better working conditions; the workers were overwhelmingly African American. They marched to gain public awareness and support for their plight:
3458-538: The 20th century, with four lynchings between 1900 and the lynching of Thomas Williams in 1928. A Tennessee Powder Company built an explosives powder plant to make TNT and gunpowder on a 6,000-acre site in Millington in 1940. The plant was built to make smokeless gunpowder for the British Armed Forces during World War II . In May 1941, DuPont (1802–2017) took over the plant, changed the name to
3591-519: The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees ( AFSCME ) was successfully formed by T.O. Jones. However, the city officials refused to recognize the union. In 1966, the union attempted another strike, but it was thwarted before it began when the city prepared strikebreakers and threatened to jail leaders. The failure of the strike was largely due to the lack of support of Memphis’ religious community or middle class. At
3724-624: The Chickasaw Ordnance Works, and produced powder for the United States Armed Forces . There were 8,000 employees. The plant was dismantled after the war in 1946. From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a place of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump . He gained a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 and patronage flourished under Crump. Per
3857-485: The City of Memphis to honor its agreements. The period was a turning point for Black activism and union activity in Memphis. In July 2017, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced that the city would offer $ 50,000 in tax-free grants to the 14 surviving 1968 sanitation strikers, who were either still on payroll to maintain standard of living or could not retire in relative comfort as they had to forgo pension and thus receiving
3990-517: The Foundation to operate as part of the museum complex. In 2016, the museum was honored by becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate museum . It is also a contributing property to the South Main Street Historic District of the National Register of Historic Places . The complex is located at 450 Mulberry Street, with all properties except the Lorraine Motel owned by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation. The motel
4123-478: The King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex. After renovations, the museum reopened in 2014 with an increase in the amount of multimedia and interactive displays, as well as various short films to show highlights. The museum is owned and operated by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation, based in Memphis. The Lorraine Motel is owned by the Tennessee State Museum and leased long term to
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4256-553: The Lorraine into an establishment that Dr. King and Memphis can be rightly proud of and where visitors can experience his dream in action." The Foundation worked with Smithsonian Institution curator Benjamin Lawless to develop a design to save historical aspects of the site. The Nashville, Tennessee firm McKissack and McKissack was tapped to design a modern museum on those portions of the grounds that were not directly related to
4389-573: The Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture. The Chickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and a large territory in the Southeast. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered
4522-612: The Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws." In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana , Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet , sent his lieutenant governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos , to negotiate and secure consent from the local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on
4655-624: The NAACP Vanguard Award. After Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, the Memphis sanitation workers' strike went from being a local labor fight to a national issue. This was because King was dedicated to giving sanitation workers better working conditions and more respect. Many people felt terrible about his death, which led to more support for the strike from a wide range of groups, including community and church leaders, local and national labor groups, and regular people. Even groups that weren't active before, like white religious leaders and
4788-500: The Shelby County Office of Planning and Development that year estimated that 70,000 people took commercial tours that stopped at the motel annually. Based on the findings of this report, the county considered purchasing the motel and turning it into a memorial or museum. In April 1982, Bailey defaulted on a $ 140,000 construction loan, causing the lender to attempt foreclosure on the property. Bailey filed for bankruptcy
4921-540: The Staple Singers and Wilson Pickett . Civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. stayed in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in early April 1968, while working to organize protests around the ongoing Memphis sanitation strike . While standing on the balcony outside his room on the evening of April 4, King was shot once in the face by an unseen assassin. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital , where he
5054-622: The Sylvers , Jay Reatard , Zach Myers , and Aretha Franklin . On December 23, 1988, a tanker truck hauling liquefied propane crashed at the I-40/I-240 interchange in Midtown and exploded , starting multiple vehicle and structural fires. Nine people were killed and ten were injured. It was one of Tennessee's deadliest motor vehicle accidents and eventually led to the reconstruction of the interchange where it occurred. On June 2, 2021,
5187-481: The U.S. federal government. In the Loyd Jowers trial in 1999, a Memphis jury found Loyd Jowers , owner of a restaurant near the motel, liable for King's wrongful death . Within days of the assassination, King's supporters began asking Bailey to build a permanent memorial at the motel, with one early suggestion being an eternal flame similar to the one at the grave of John F. Kennedy . On May 2, 1968, one of
5320-514: The Young and Morrow Building at 422 Main Street. This was where James Earl Ray initially confessed (and later recanted) to shooting King. The complex includes Canipe's Amusement Store at 418 Main Street, next to the rooming house where the murder weapon with Ray's fingerprints was found. Included on these grounds is the brushy lot that stood between the rooming house and the motel. The museum exhibits
5453-572: The abolition of slavery in the United States , most Black people in Memphis were enslaved, being used as forced labor by white enslavers along the river or on outlying cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta . The city's demographics changed dramatically in the 1850s and 1860s, due to waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine , Irish Americans made up 9.9% of
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5586-704: The accuracy of this claim. That same night Loeb declared martial law and authorized a 7 pm curfew, bringing about 4000 National Guardsmen. On April 2, Payne's funeral was held in Clayborn Temple . Despite police pressure to have a private closed-casket funeral in their home, the family held the funeral at Clayborn and had an open casket. Following the funeral, the sanitation workers marched peacefully downtown. The local news media were generally favorable to Loeb, portraying union leaders (and later Martin Luther King Jr.) as meddling outsiders. The Commercial Appeal wrote editorials (and published cartoons) praising
5719-401: The altercations, which were described as "heinous" and showed "a total lack of regard for human life", according to Memphis police chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis. The officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes. The relatively rapid dismissal and prosecution of the offending officers were favorably perceived by Nichols's family, and Davis called it
5852-679: The area annexed was slightly smaller than first proposed. In 1893 the city was rechartered with home rule , which restored its ability to enact taxes. The state legislature established a cap rate. Although the commission government was retained and enlarged to five commissioners, Democratic politicians regained control from the business elite. The commission form of government was believed effective in getting things done, but because all positions were elected at-large , requiring them to gain majority votes, this practice reduced representation by candidates representing significant minority political interests. In terms of its economy, Memphis developed as
5985-465: The assassination. A groundbreaking ceremony for the museum was held on January 27, 1989. The museum was dedicated on July 4, 1991, and officially opened to the public on September 28, 1991. D'Army Bailey was the founding president of the museum. In 1999, the Foundation acquired the Young and Morrow Building, and its associated vacant lot on the West side of Mulberry, as part of the museum complex. A tunnel
6118-544: The black settlement was left in ruins. Two whites were killed in the riot. Many blacks permanently fled Memphis afterward, especially as the Freedmen's Bureau continued to have difficulty in protecting them. Their population fell to about 15,000 by 1870, 37.4% of the total population of 40,226. Historian Barrington Walker suggests that the Irish rioted against blacks because of their relatively recent arrival as immigrants and
6251-682: The bluff; Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was the result. Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws" when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post". Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained a focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes: [T]he Treaty of San Lorenzo or Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 [implemented in March 1797], [had as its result that] all of
6384-537: The board included whites from the corporate world. Bailey and other community activists criticized the board as "too white" and claimed they were shutting out the community. Beverly Robertson, then director of the museum, defended the board and the museum's operation. Gregory Duckett, a board member, disagreed with Bailey's interpretation, saying the museum was never designed as an activist institution. Robertson noted that many board members were African Americans who had been activists and also entered corporate life. In 2007,
6517-511: The board of the museum Foundation and of the mission of the museum, as people have differing opinions. These issues came to a head in December 2007, as the museum foundation was asking the state, which owned the property, to extend its lease for 50 years rent-free. Bailey, a circuit court judge, said he was disappointed with the museum's emphasis on history. He said that he had envisioned it as an institution to inspire activism. By 2007, members of
6650-419: The building into a museum. However, it proved difficult to gather the millions of dollars needed for the construction. In May 1987, the foundation reached an agreement with the state of Tennessee, Shelby County, and the city of Memphis to develop the museum. The foundation agreed to sell the property to the state, which would provide $ 4.4 million in funding to build a museum that would be designed and controlled by
6783-500: The business community in Memphis, spoke out in favor of a solution. In response to the shock and interest across the country, the U.S. government sent Undersecretary of Labor James Reynolds to mediate on behalf of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Reynolds brought important resources and pressure to the table, which eventually led local leaders to come to an agreement. King's death showed how powerful his moral and symbolic leadership was. Even after he died, it continued to bring people together in
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#17327724008226916-569: The caravans of marchers headed to participate in the Poor People's March on Washington started its journey at the Lorraine Motel. King's widow, Coretta Scott King , and his successor as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , Ralph Abernathy , unveiled a memorial plaque at the motel shortly before the march started. In June, Room 306 was converted into a shrine to King's memory which
7049-716: The careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials in Louisiana and West Florida , which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians [e.g., the Choctaws ], was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate the Mississippi River and won control over the Yazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel. The Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. In 1796,
7182-463: The city as the war went on. The war years contributed to additional dramatic changes in the city population. The Union Army's presence attracted many fugitive slaves who had escaped from surrounding rural plantations. So many sought protection behind Union lines that the Army set up contraband camps to accommodate them. Memphis's black population increased from 3,000 in 1860, when the total population
7315-741: The city has a majority African-American population. Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American South . Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved to Chicago and other areas from the Mississippi Delta , carrying their music with them to influence other cities and listeners over radio airwaves. Former and current Memphis residents include musicians Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Muddy Waters , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , Robert Johnson , W. C. Handy , Bobby Whitlock , B.B. King , Howlin' Wolf , Isaac Hayes , Booker T. Jones , Eric Gales , Al Green , Alex Chilton , Three 6 Mafia ,
7448-540: The city refused to replace the defective equipment. Local 1733 held a strike meeting on February 11 where over 400 workers explained that the city refused to provide decent wages and working conditions. The workers wanted immediate action but the city refused. The next day fewer than 200 employees showed up for work, and only 38 of the 108 garbage trucks continued to move. On Monday February 12, 1968, 930 of 1100 sanitation workers did not show up for work, including 214 of 230 sewer drainage workers. Elmore Nickelberry, who
7581-482: The city were the lower classes, such as German and Irish immigrant workers and African Americans. None had the means to flee the city, as did the middle and upper-class whites of Memphis, and thus they were subjected to a city of death. Immediately following the Board of Health's declaration, a Citizen's Relief Committee was formed by Charles G. Fisher. It organized the city into refugee camps. The committee's main priority
7714-497: The city's workers and appointed Charles Blackburn as the Public Works Commissioner. Loeb ordered Jones and the union to deal with Blackburn; Blackburn said he had no authority to change the city's policies. On February 1, Echol Cole and Robert Walker , two sanitation workers, were crushed to death in a garbage compactor where they were taking shelter from the rain. Two other men had died this way in 1964, but
7847-493: The city. A massive panic ensued. The same trains and steamboats that had brought thousands into Memphis, in five days carried away more than 25,000 refugees, more than half of the city's population. On August 23, the Board of Health finally declared a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, and the city collapsed, hemorrhaging its population. In July of that year, the city had a population of 47,000; by September, 19,000 remained, and 17,000 of them had yellow fever. The only people left in
7980-458: The civil rights era, Memphis has become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics . The largest employer is FedEx , which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport . In 2021, Memphis was the world's second-busiest cargo airport. The International Port of Memphis also hosts the fifth-busiest inland water port in the U.S. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network considers Memphis
8113-409: The construction of the museum, as the construction work risked endangering her safety. As a result, she was ordered to leave her spot on the sidewalk outside the motel. On July 16, 1990, Smith was forcibly carried from that spot and dumped on the opposite side of the street. Since her vigil began, Smith has spoken to thousands of museum visitors, including former president Jimmy Carter . Carter visited
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#17327724008228246-551: The country to come home. Though yellow fever cases were recorded in the pages of Elmwood Cemetery's burial record as late as February 29, 1874, the epidemic seemed quieted. The Board of Health declared the epidemic at an end after it had caused over 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $ 200 million. On November 27, a general citizen's meeting was called at the Greenlaw Opera House to offer thanks to those who had stayed behind to serve, of whom many had died. Over
8379-596: The crowd to not rest until "justice and jobs" prevailed for all Black Americans. That night they raised $ 1,600 to support the Movement. Rev. Jackson declared further that once the immediate demands of the strikers were met, the movement would focus on ending police brutality, as well as improving housing and education across the city for Black Memphians. Our Henry, who art in City Hall, Hard-headed be thy name. Thy kingdom C.O.M.E. Our will be done, In Memphis, as it
8512-516: The danger of their work, and the struggles to support families with their low pay. Their drive for better pay had been met with resistance by the city government. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , known for his leadership in the non-violent movement, came to lend his support to the workers' cause. King stayed at the Lorraine Motel in the city, and was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968,
8645-526: The day after giving his I've Been to the Mountaintop speech at the Mason Temple . After learning of King's murder, many African Americans in the city rioted, looting and destroying businesses and other facilities, some by arson. The governor ordered Tennessee National Guardsmen into the city within hours, where small, roving bands of rioters continued to be active. Fearing the violence, more of
8778-476: The deaths of sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker . The deaths served as a breaking point for more than 1,300 African American men from the Memphis Department of Public Works as they demanded higher wages, time and a half overtime, dues check-off, safety measures, and pay for the rainy days when they were told to go home. The Memphis sanitation strike was led by T.O. Jones and had
8911-430: The demonstration participants to return to Clayborn Temple . The police followed the crowd back to the church where they released tear gas and clubbed people. In the midst of the chaos, police officer Leslie Dean Jones shot and killed sixteen-year-old Larry Payne . Witnesses said Payne had his hands raised as the officer pressed a shotgun to Payne's stomach and fired it' in later years, federal investigations questioned
9044-567: The disease carried by river passengers traveling by ships along the waterways. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, more than 5,000 people were listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The vast majority died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 40,000 one of the most traumatic and severe in urban U.S. history. Within four days of the Memphis Board of Health's declaration of
9177-597: The early 1960s, Black sanitation workers united together to gain better wages and working conditions, fighting the racial discrimination in the Memphis Public Works Department. The first attempt to strike was in 1963, but it failed because there was inadequate organization. Many Black people were afraid to unionize due to the fear of persecution, which was justified in 1963, when 33 sanitation workers were fired immediately after attending an organizing meeting. In November 1964, Local 1733 of
9310-423: The election of all the at-large positions. Memphis did not become a home rule city until 1963, although the state legislature had amended the constitution in 1953 to provide home rule for cities and counties. Before that, the city had to get state bills approved in order to change its charter and other policies and programs. Since 1963, it can change the charter by popular approval of the electorate. During
9443-456: The end of 1967, Henry Loeb was elected as mayor against the opposition of Memphis's Black community. Loeb had served previously as the head of the sanitation division (as the elected Public Works Commissioner), and during his tenure oversaw grueling work conditions — including no city-issued uniforms, no restrooms, and no grievance procedure for the numerous occasions on which they were underpaid. Upon taking office, Loeb increased regulations on
9576-596: The epidemic bankrupted Memphis, and as a result, its charter was revoked by the state legislature. By 1870, Memphis's population of 40,000 was almost double that of Nashville and Atlanta, and it was the second-largest city in the South after New Orleans. Its population continued to grow after 1870, even when the Panic of 1873 hit the US hard, particularly in the South. The Panic of 1873 resulted in expanding Memphis's underclasses amid
9709-536: The epidemic reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily. The Episcopal Community of St. Mary at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral played an important role during the epidemic in caring for the lower classes. Already supporting a girls' school and church orphanage, the Sisters of St. Mary also sought to provide care for the Canfield Asylum, a home for black children. Each day, they alternated caring for
9842-638: The facility to compete with other hotels that were no longer whites-only. He expanded the complex significantly later that year, adding a second floor, a swimming pool, and drive-up access for new rooms on the south side of the complex. Accordingly, he then changed the name from the Lorraine Hotel to the Lorraine Motel . Many musicians stayed at the motel in the 1960s while recording at Memphis' Stax Records , including Ray Charles , Lionel Hampton , Aretha Franklin , Ethel Waters , Otis Redding ,
9975-460: The foundation, while the city and county would each provide another $ 2.2 million. The motel closed to customers on January 10, 1988, when the state took possession of the property. Former owner Walter Bailey moved out of his residence in the motel that day after living there for over 40 years. Bailey died later that year. When the motel closed, one of the remaining long-term tenants, Jacqueline Smith, refused to leave her room. Smith, who had lived at
10108-682: The franchise until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.) Historian L. B. Wrenn suggests the heightened political hostility of the Democratic contest and related social tensions contributed to a white mob lynching three black grocers in Memphis in 1892 . Journalist Ida B. Wells of Memphis investigated the lynchings, as one of the men killed was a friend of hers. She demonstrated that these and other lynchings were more often due to economic and social competition than any criminal offenses by black men. Her findings were considered so controversial and aroused so much anger that she
10241-683: The freedmen. Unlike the disturbances in some other cities, ex-Confederate veterans were generally not part of the attacks against blacks in Memphis. As a result of the riots in Memphis, and a similar one in New Orleans, Louisiana in September, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In the 1870s, a series of yellow fever epidemics devastated Memphis, with
10374-399: The full civil rights movement. Visitors can search for text based on event, location, or theme. Many exhibits now feature "listening stations" where patrons with headphones can hear audio about the exhibit they are seeing; one features the voice of Malcolm X in a debate. More than 40 new short films throughout the museum also enhance the effect of the exhibits. The renovated museum opened to
10507-483: The garbage is going to be picked up, bet on it." Thereupon the mayor stormed out of the room. By February 15, there was 10,000 tons of noticeable piled up trash, and Loeb began to hire strikebreakers . These individuals were White and traveled with police escorts. They were not well received by the strikers, and the strikers assaulted the strikebreakers in some cases. On February 18, AFSCME International President Jerry Wurf arrives in Memphis, exclaiming that
10640-562: The gentrification of the South Main neighborhood, Smith has also criticized the museum for its inherent focus on the moment of King's violent death, referring to it as the "James Earl Ray Memorial". In a 2018 column in the Memphis Commercial Appeal , Smith elaborated on her stance, saying, "Let's relocate the museum within Memphis, along with its Klan hoods, James Earl Ray rifle, and other negative memorabilia and turn
10773-399: The heart of racism is the idea that a man is not a man, that a person is not a person. You are human beings. You are men. You deserve dignity." Rev. Lawson's comments embody the message behind the iconic placards from the sanitation workers' strike, "I Am A Man" . On the evening of February 26, Clayborn Temple held over a thousand supporters of the movement. Reverend Ralph Jackson charged
10906-599: The historic Chickasaw in this area in the 16th century. J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson's Four Centuries of Southern Indians (2007), notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment beyond the Appalachians and their interference with Indian matters—after Fort Nogales (present-day Vicksburg ) and Fort Confederación (present-day Epes, Alabama ): "Chickasaw Bluffs, located on
11039-550: The largest city bordering the Mississippi River and third largest metropolitan statistical area behind Greater St. Louis and the Twin Cities on the Mississippi River. The Memphis metropolitan area includes West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region , which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas , Mississippi and the Missouri Bootheel . One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of
11172-512: The largest world markets for cotton and hardwood . Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in the American Civil Rights Movement . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 after activities supporting a strike by the city's maintenance workers. The National Civil Rights Museum was established there and is a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since
11305-513: The long strike. The union also applied significant political and social pressure on the city of Memphis to recognize them as the workers’ official bargaining representative. A major turning point came when AFSCME and local leaders involved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose presence and famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech gave the movement national significance, highlighting the deep connection between labor rights and civil rights During
11438-545: The march. King arrived late to find a massive crowd on the brink of chaos, causing Lawson and King to call off the demonstration as violence erupted. After peacefully marching for several blocks, singing " We Shall Overcome ", Black armed men with iron pipes and bricks, and carrying signs, began smashing windows and looting along the stores. Police immediately reacted to the riot, moving into the crowd with nightsticks, mace, teargas, and gunfire. They arrested 280 individuals and 60 were reported injured, most of them Black. Lawson told
11571-415: The mayor for his toughness. Newspapers and television stations generally portrayed the mayor as calm and reasonable, and the protesters and organizers as unruly and disorganized. The Tri-State Defender , an African American newspaper, and The Sou'wester , a local college newspaper, reported the events of the strike from the sanitation workers' perspective. These publications emphasized the brutality of
11704-490: The middle-class began to leave the city for the suburbs. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis's population as 60.8% white and 38.9% black. Suburbanization was attracting wealthier residents to newer housing outside the city. After the riots and court-ordered busing in 1973 to achieve desegregation of public schools, "about 40,000 of the system's 71,000 white students abandon[ed] the system in four years." Today,
11837-409: The motel since 1973 and had worked there as a housekeeper, protested the creation of the museum. Smith thought King would have objected to having millions of dollars spent on a memorial for him, evicting poor residents in the process, instead of policies and programs that would benefit the neighborhood community, which was generally lower-income and predominantly Black at the time. She saw the creation of
11970-426: The motel to be placed back on the auction block. The foundation took out a $ 50,000 loan and was able to win the ensuing auction with its only bid of $ 144,000. The group, which changed its name to the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation, stopped charging admission to tour Room 306 in March 1983. The foundation continued to operate the Lorraine as a single-room occupancy motel while seeking to raise funds to convert
12103-733: The mountaintop " speech. "I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!" King's assassination (April 4, 1968) intensified the strike. Mayor Loeb and others feared rioting , which had already begun in Washington, D.C., Federal officials, including Attorney General Ramsey Clark , urged Loeb to make concessions to
12236-496: The museum as part of a larger gentrification of the South Main Street area, pushing out poor residents as part of transforming it into the South Main Arts District . Smith continued to live inside the closed motel, which was surrounded with an eight-foot-tall chain-link fence, for several weeks. On March 2, 1988, four sheriff's deputies forcibly carried her out of the building, while she shouted, "You people are making
12369-527: The museum site in December 1991 when his daughter Amy graduated from the Memphis College of Art , but did not enter the museum after listening to Smith's criticisms, which Amy agreed with. However, when Carter received an award in September 1994 for his humanitarian work in Haiti, he attended the award ceremony at the museum, leading Smith to feel that he had betrayed her. In addition to her criticism of
12502-402: The next year property tax revenues collapsed, and the city could not make payments on its municipal debts. As a result, Memphis temporarily lost its city charter and was reclassified by the state legislature as a Taxing District from 1878 to 1893. But a new era of sanitation was developed in the city, a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization, and during
12635-456: The orphans at St. Mary's, delivering children to the Canfield Asylum, and taking soup and medicine on house calls to patients. Between September 9 and October 4, Sister Constance and three other nuns fell victim to the epidemic and died. They later became known as the Martyrs of Memphis. At long last, on October 28, a killing frost struck. The city sent out word to Memphians scattered all over
12768-516: The police reactions to the protestors. Membership in Local 1733 increased substantially during the course of the strike, more than doubling in the first few days. Its relationship with other unions was complex. The AFSCME leadership in Washington was initially upset to learn of the strike, which they thought would not succeed. P. J. Ciampa, a field organizer for the AFL–CIO, reportedly reacted to news of
12901-509: The poorer whites and blacks fundamentally made up the city and played the greatest role in rebuilding it. The epidemic had resulted in Memphis being a less cosmopolitan place, with an economy that served the cotton trade and a population drawn increasingly from poor white and black Southerners. The 1890 election was strongly contested, resulting in white opponents of the D. P. Hadden faction working to deprive them of votes by disenfranchising blacks . The state had enacted several laws, including
13034-717: The population in 1850, but 23.2% by 1860, when the total population was 22,623. Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861, and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union ironclad gunboats captured it in the naval Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city and state were occupied by the Union Army for the duration of the war. Union commanders allowed the city to maintain its civil government during most of this period but excluded Confederate States Army veterans from office. This shifted political dynamics in
13167-416: The poverty and hardship it wrought, giving further credence to Memphis as a rough, shiftless city. Leading up to the outbreak in 1878, it had suffered two yellow fever epidemics, cholera , and malaria , giving it a reputation as sickly and filthy. It was unheard of for a city with a population as large as Memphis's not to have any waterworks; the city still relied for supplies entirely on collecting water from
13300-409: The power to recognize the union. The Memphis sanitation strike prompted Martin Luther King Jr. 's presence, where he famously gave the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech a day before his assassination. The city of Memphis had a long history of segregation and unfair treatment for Black residents. The influential politician E. H. Crump had created a city police force, much of it culled from
13433-503: The protections that other workers had; their pay was low and they could be fired (usually by White supervisors) without warning. In 1960 the average sanitation worker in Memphis earned $ 0.94–$ 1.14 an hour, however in 1968 sanitation laborers earned $ 1.60 an hour and garbage truck drivers earned $ 1.90 an hour ($ 14 and $ 17 respectively in 2023 dollars). In addition to their sanitation work, often including unpaid overtime, many worked other jobs or appealed to welfare and public housing . In
13566-499: The public on April 5, 2014. The Associated Press review said, "The powerful, visceral exhibit[s set] the tone for an evocative, newly immersive museum experience that chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle in America." King scholar Clayborne Carson of Stanford University said that the museum's renovations present "the best and most recent scholarship on civil rights available today". Memphis, Tennessee Memphis
13699-478: The publisher's summary of L.B. Wrenn's study of the period, "This centralization of political power in a small commission aided the efficient transaction of municipal business, but the public policies that resulted from it tended to benefit upper-class Memphians while neglecting the less affluent residents and neighborhoods." The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well
13832-408: The remains of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest were removed from a Memphis park. On January 7, 2023, after a routine traffic stop, five African American police officers brutally beat a 29-year-old African American man, Tyre Nichols . Nichols died from his injuries in the hospital three days later. Officer body cam footage and local surveillance cameras captured
13965-403: The requirement of poll taxes , that made it more difficult for them to register to vote and served to disenfranchise many blacks. Although political party factions in the future sometimes paid poll taxes to enable blacks to vote, African Americans lost their last positions on the city council in this election and were forced out of the police force. (They did not recover the ability to exercise
14098-424: The river and rain cisterns, and had no way to remove sewage. The combination of a swelling population, especially of lower and working classes, and abysmal health and sanitary conditions made Memphis ripe for a serious epidemic. Kate Bionda, an owner of an Italian "snack house", died of a fever on August 13, 1878. Hers was officially reported by the Board of Health, on August 14, as the first case of yellow fever in
14231-434: The sanitation strike by enacting a citywide work stoppage. King promised to return to Memphis on March 22 to lead a protest through the city. On March 22, a massive snowstorm hit Memphis, causing the organizers to reschedule the march for March 28. On March 28, King and Reverend Lawson led strikers and supporters in a march in downtown Memphis. City officials estimated that 22,000 students skipped school to participate in
14364-495: The sanitation workers established a daily routine of meeting at noon with nearly a thousand strikers and then marching from Clayborn Temple to downtown. On February 22, workers and their supporters performed a sit in at city hall where they pressured the City Council to recognize their union and recommend wages to increase. The mayor rejected the request. The first large-scale protest of Loeb's policies came on February 23. It
14497-429: The sanitation workers. On March 18, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to praise a 25,000 crowd of labor and civil right activists for their unity stating, "You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one Black person suffers, if one Black person is down, we are all down." King encouraged the group to continue to support
14630-724: The site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, in what was then called the Southwest United States. The area was still largely occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down the Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed. The fort's ruins went unnoticed 20 years later when Memphis
14763-489: The state agreed to a 20-year lease, while taking over major maintenance of the complex. It required the museum board to hold annual public meetings and increase the number of African-American board members. The main museum closed in November 2012 for a $ 27.5 million renovation, to include changes to exhibits and upgrades to building systems. The exhibits were updated for historical accuracy and to add to their evocative power;
14896-459: The strike saying, "Good God Almighty, I need a strike in Memphis like I need another hole in the head!" However, both AFSCME and the AFL–CIO sent representatives to Memphis; these organizers came to support the strike upon recognizing the determination of the workers. Jones, Lucy, Ciampa, and other union leaders, asked the striking workers to focus on labor solidarity and downplay racism. The workers refused. AFSCME, especially its Local 1733, played
15029-406: The strike will only end when the workers’ demands are met. Wurf worked with national union representative P.J. Ciampa and local union leaders to edit the strikers' list of demands. The revised version of demands included 10% wage increase, a grievance procedure, fair promotion policies, sick leave, pension programs, health insurance, payroll deduction of union dues, and union recognition through
15162-509: The strike, Local 1733 received direct support from URW Local 186 . Local 186 had the largest Black membership in Memphis, and allowed the strikers to use their union hall for meetings. Most White union leaders in Memphis expressed concern about race riots . Tommy Powell, president of the Memphis Labor Council, was one of few local White advocates. On April 3, King returned to Memphis where he famously gave his " I've been to
15295-537: The strikers in order to avoid violence. Loeb refused. On April 8, a completely silent march with the SCLC , Coretta Scott King , and UAW president Walter Reuther attracted 42,000 participants. Reuther wrote a check for $ 50,000 to the striking sanitation workers, the largest contribution from any outside source. The strike ended on April 16, 1968, with a settlement that included union recognition and wage increases, although additional strikes had to be threatened to force
15428-640: The support of Jerry Wurf , president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) . The AFSCME was chartered in 1964 by the state; the city of Memphis refused to recognize it. Mayor Henry Loeb refused to recognize the strike and rejected the City Council vote, insisting that only he possessed
15561-462: The uncertain nature of their own claim to "whiteness"; they were trying to distinguish themselves from blacks in the underclass. The main fighting participants were ethnic Irish, decommissioned black Union soldiers, and newly emancipated African-American freedmen . Walker suggests that most of the mob was not in direct economic conflict with the blacks, as by then the Irish had attained better jobs, but were establishing social and political dominance over
15694-504: The work was guided by a group of recognized civil rights scholars. Many of the museum's most popular exhibits did not change, such as Room 306 (where King was staying when he died), the replica sanitation truck (King came to Memphis to support an AFSCME sanitation workers' strike ), and the replica of the bus Rosa Parks rode in Montgomery, Alabama, before initiating the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955–1956. The original bus resides at
15827-435: The workers to a nearby auditorium, where he asked them to return to work. At one point, Loeb grabbed the microphone from AFSCME organizer Bill Lucy and shouted for the strikers to "go back to work!". The crowd responded with laughter and boos. Loeb then observed and spoke, "I have sat here and taken quite a bit of abuse and I do not appreciate it, and I have not given any abuse back, your jobs are important and I promise you
15960-547: The world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market, both commodity products of the Mississippi Delta. Into the 1950s, it was also the world's largest mule market. These animals were still used extensively for agriculture. Attracting workers from Southern rural areas as well as new European immigrants, from 1900 to 1950 the city increased nearly fourfold in population, from 102,350 to 396,000 residents. Racist violence continued into
16093-777: Was 22,623, to nearly 20,000 in 1865, with most settling south of the city limits. The rapid demographic changes added to the stress of war and occupation and uncertainty about who was in charge, increasing tensions between the city's ethnic Irish policemen and black Union soldiers after the war. In three days of rioting in early May 1866, the Memphis Riots erupted, in which white mobs made up of policemen, firemen, and other mostly ethnic Irish Americans attacked and killed 46 blacks, wounding 75 and injuring 100; raped several women; and destroyed nearly 100 houses while severely damaging churches and schools in South Memphis. Much of
16226-413: Was built under the lot to connect the building with the motel. The Foundation became the custodian of the police and evidence files associated with the assassination, including the rifle and fatal bullet. The latter are on display in a 12,800-square-foot (1,190 m) exhibit in the former Y & M building, which opened September 28, 2002. Through the years, there has been controversy over composition of
16359-439: Was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful movement , but did not encourage heavy industry, which might have provided substantial employment for the working-class population. The lack of representation in city government resulted in the poor and minorities being underrepresented. The majority controlled
16492-421: Was forced to move away from the city. But she continued to investigate and publish the abuses of lynching . Businessmen were eager to increase the city population after the losses of 1878–79, and supported the annexation of new areas; this measure was passed in 1890 before the census. The annexation measure was finally approved by the state legislature through a compromise achieved with real estate magnates, and
16625-522: Was founded, it was part of the United States territory. John Overton , James Winchester , and Andrew Jackson founded the city. Based on the wealth of cotton plantations and river traffic along the Mississippi, Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South . After the Civil War and the end of slavery , the city continued to grow into the 20th century. It became among
16758-421: Was given the moniker "mini riot" after it turned violent. Gwen Robinson Awsumb , the city council liaison to the mayor, accused Loeb of deliberately impeding the council's progress in resolving the strike. The marchers faced police brutality in the forms of mace, tear gas, and billy clubs. On February 24, while addressing the strikers after a "police assault" on their protests, Reverend James Lawson said, "For at
16891-640: Was laid out as a city after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land. At the beginning of the century, as recognized by the United States in 1786 Treaty of Hopewell , the land still belonged to the Chickasaw Nation . In the Treaty of Tuscaloosa , signed in October 1818 and ratified by Congress on January 7, 1819, the Chickasaw ceded their territory in Western Tennessee to
17024-665: Was one of the strikers during this time speaks of Mayor Loeb and how it was impossible to negotiate with him, due to him being a "stubborn man". Ben Jones, another striker with 43 years on the job, spoke of the conditions that all sanitation workers had to deal with, including how heavy all the garbage bins were and how they would leak all over them. They would end up at the end of the day smelling real bad when they would return to department headquarters and would go home to families who did not want to be around them. As they would march down Main St., looters would ransack stores and tear gas
17157-536: Was opened to the public. Touring the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Room was initially free, but later cost an admission fee of $ 1. In the years following the assassination, business at the motel declined and Bailey ran into increasing debts, even as the assassination site became a frequent destination for sightseers. Approximately 15,000 people signed the motel's guestbook in 1980, while a report by
17290-419: Was pronounced dead about an hour later. James Earl Ray , a resident of a rooming house across the street from the motel, was convicted of King's murder in 1969. Ray pleaded guilty to the murder, but later recanted his confession. The King family, alongside many others, have long believed that Ray was not the culprit and that the assassination was carried out by a group of conspirators, possibly including agents of
17423-411: Was set back by anti-communist fear after World War II. Civil rights and unionism in Memphis were thus heavily stifled all through the 1950s. The civil rights struggle was renewed in the 1960s, starting with desegregation sit-ins in the summer of 1960. The NAACP and SCLC were particularly active in Memphis during this period. Memphis sanitation workers were mostly Black. They enjoyed few of
17556-526: Was thrown at them, stated Rev. Leslie Moore. Moore also speaks of the song they would sing titled, " Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around ", as they would march. Some of those who did show up walked off when they found out about the apparent strike. Mayor Loeb , infuriated, refused to meet with the strikers. The workers marched from their union hall to a meeting at the City Council chamber; there, they were met with 40–50 police officers. Loeb led
17689-534: Was to separate the poor from the city and isolate them in refugee camps. The Howard Association, formed specifically for yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Memphis, organized nurses and doctors in Memphis and throughout the country. They stayed at the Peabody Hotel , the only hotel to keep its doors open during the epidemic. From there they were assigned to their respective districts. Physicians of
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